Posted on July 25, 2017
By Steve Buchiere, Finger Lakes Times
Resort communities like Sodus Point are supposed to be havens for people to escape the stresses of life, Sen. Chuck Schumer said while standing in front of the bay channel Friday afternoon.
“People come here for relaxation,” said Schumer at Wayne County’s Sodus Point Park, where the nearby beach has been eroded considerably by the record-high waters of Lake Ontario.
Instead of relaxation, it’s been a summer of sandbags and pumps as residents try to stave off flooding from the lake and its embayments, including Sodus Bay. Sodus Point businesses have been struggling mightily because of a drop in visitors to the bucolic Wayne County village, whose businesses rely on the summer tourist season for survival.
“It’s been tough, and that’s why I’m here,” said Schumer, a Democrat who also serves as Senate minority leader.
While the high lake waters continue to be the topic of the day in waterfront communities like Sodus Point, a lack of action by the Army Corps of Engineers is exacerbating the issue at Sodus Point, said Schumer. He said the Army Corps needs to conduct repairs to a bay breakwater and a steel wall, as well as a breach in a slim piece of land called Crescent Beach that keeps Lake Ontario’s waves and sediment-filled waters from invading the bay.
Schumer explained that the Crescent Beach sand bar and the Charles Point peninsula, which are connected to the bay’s eastern breakwater, act as an isthmus, providing needed protection from the lake’s wave action, especially during storms.
Schumer said this year’s historic flooding has “deeply compromised” the protective barrier in three key areas.
He warned that unless the Army Corps steps in to address the three areas, the whole harbor, as well as homes, structures and infrastructure within the bay could be at risk.
He noted that more than 75 homes along Charles Point and Crescent Beach are threatened, and that four on Crescent have already been evacuated.
Schumer said the Army Corps of Engineers owns both the breakwater and the steel wall, and that it needs to put the repairs on for next year. He does not expect the Corps could get to the projects this year.
As for the breach in Crescent Beach, Schumer turned around from his spot on the west side of the channel that connects Sodus Bay to the lake. The Army Corps should use sediment from the planned dredging of the channel, as opposed to dumping it out in Lake Ontario, he said.
The funds are there, Schumer insisted.
“We’ve given the Army Corps a nice budget this year,” said Schumer, who noted that Sodus Point generates about $10 million in economic benefits each year, resulting in at least 200 jobs.
Further, he wants to prioritize in the 2019 budget a comprehensive Great Lakes coast shoreline resiliency study that will identify sensitive and vulnerable coastal areas similar to Sodus Bay and strategies to start working with state, local and federal entities to make the vulnerable coastlines more resilient to damaging erosion or flooding risks.
“We have to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Wayne County Board of Supervisors Chairman Steve LeRoy, who is also supervisor for the town of Sodus, said that repairs to the eastern breakwater and steel wall are “critical to not only to safeguard houses on Charles Point, but to protect Sodus Bay.”
Still, Sodus Bay residents want Schumer to do more: Find a way to scrap or revise Plan 2014, which they said is preventing officials from taking action to reduce lake levels.
Marti Tertinek, wife of Sodus Mayor Chris Tertinek, grew up in Sodus Point and has never seen anything as bad as this. She said the previous lake-level plan between the U.S. and Canadian governments would have resulted in pro-active measures prior to the spring flooding. And she said the current plan’s “trigger points” for reducing water levels is flood stage for many areas on the Lake Ontario coastline.
She also wants to see more people on the International Joint Commission — the U.S.-Canadian agency that agreed to the new pact — who actually live near the coastline. She said one member was from Montana. Two slots are open, she said.
As for Sodus Point itself, her husband said things are better, but hardly normal.
“We’re still about 10 inches above flood stage,” he said. “We’re keeping the streets dry.”
Still, said the mayor, many residents have water in their basements, while numerous homeowners are battling mold and mildew.
Source: Finger Lakes Times
